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Tainted Drug Justice (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The San Francisco Examiner'
Says The War On Some Drug Users Would Become Nearly Impossible
Should The Recent Ruling By The 10th Circuit Court Of Appeals Stand,
That The Judicial Process Is Tainted And Justice Thwarted When Testimony
Is Purchased With Offers Of Leniency)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 21:47:47 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: PUB LTE: Tainted Drug Justice
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
TAINTED DRUG JUSTICE
Milton Friedman pointed out over 25 years ago that prohibitionary laws are
at their core corrupting of law enforcement, the judicial system and
society itself.
Drug transactions between seller and buyer are consensual - neither makes
the complaint about the activity. Consequently, law enforcement authorities
resort to using informants to obtain convictions.
This leads inevitably to a point where, as was said by the 10th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, "The judicial process is tainted and justice
cheapened when factual testimony is purchased, whether with leniency or
money" ("Loss of plea deals perils war on crime," July 20).
The war on drugs would become nearly impossible should the 10th Circuit
decision stand. For that reason I am confident the decision will not. The
verbal contortions required to reverse the dead-on correct decision will
make interesting reading.
GERALD M. SUTLIFF
Emeryville

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New York City Lawyer Found Guilty In Largest Marijuana Cultivation Operation
Ever In New England (The 'Business Wire' Version Notes Derman Faces
A Mandatory Minimum 10-Year Sentence)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 03:42:33 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US MA: Wire: NYC Lawyer Found Guilty
In Largest Marijuana Cultivation Operation Ever In New England
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Henry (resist_tyranny@mapinc.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: Business Wire
Authors: Amy Rindskopf, Samantha Martin
NEW YORK CITY LAWYER FOUND GUILTY IN LARGEST MARIJUANA CULTIVATION
OPERATION EVER IN NEW ENGLAND
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-A New York City lawyer was found guilty
by a jury late yesterday in connection with the largest and longest running
indoor marijuana growing operation ever in New England.
Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts,
George Festa, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration
in New England, and Michael Lahey, Acting Chief of the Criminal
Investigative Division of the Internal Revenue Service, announced that
Herbert B. Derman, age 67, a lawyer from New York City, and North Egremont,
Massachusetts, was found guilty after a three week jury trial of conspiracy
to cultivate more than 1,000 marijuana plants. The jury also found that
Derman's residence and 200 acres of real property in North Egremont, MA,
is to be forfeited to the United States.
U.S. Attorney Stern stated: "This case involved the largest and longest
running indoor marijuana growing operation in the history of New England.
Herbert Derman allowed his rural North Egremont, MA, land to be used to
operate a vast underground marijuana growing operation for over seven years."
According to evidence introduced at the trial, Derman conspired with Marcel
Rosenzweig, Richard Haber, Nicholas Pinto Edward Brennan, Marjorie Brennan,
Sabrina Brennan and others to grow over two hundred thousand marijuana
plants, first inside a huge underground bunker of Derman's property in North
Egremont, MA, from 1983 to 1991, and then inside a barn on Rosenzweig's
property in Sandisfield, MA, from 1992 to 1995. During two court authorized
searches of Rosenzweig's property in August, 1995, the Drug Enforcement
Administration seized over 5,000 marijuana plants and over $1 million in
cash and gold.
The jury acquitted Derman on related money laundering charges.
Since the indictment was first returned in the fall of 1995, Rosenzweig died
of natural causes, and eleven co-conspirators pled guilty to charges related
to the marijuana growing conspiracy.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor scheduled Derman's sentencing
for October 28, 1998. Derman faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment
with a minimum mandatory term of 10 years.
The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and
the Western Massachusetts Narcotics Task Force and is being prosecuted by
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ariane D. Vuono and Kevin O'Regan in Stern's
Springfield office.

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Medical Marijuana - Suit Filed Against Marijuana Laws ('The Associated Press'
Breaks The Media Silence About The Class Action Lawsuit Filed
By Public Interest Attorney Lawrence Elliott Hirsch In Philadelphia,
Demanding That Laws Prohibiting The Medical Use Of Marijuana
Be Struck Down As Unconstitutional)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:14:45 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US PA: WIRE: Medical Marijuana,
Suit filed against marijuana laws
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Rumsey (dirtroad@mcn.org)
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
MEDICAL MARIJUANA, SUIT FILED AGAINST MARIJUANA LAWS
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - One is a 21 year cancer survivor and an AIDS patient
whose body is wasting away from lack of appetite. The other suffers from
the "ice pick" pain of multiple sclerosis. The remaining 163 plaintiffs in
a class-action lawsuit represent every other imaginable argument for
overturning the federal governments 61 year stance on marijuana. Their
suit, filed this month in Philadelphia, seeks to end the nation's ban on
the medical and therapeutic use of cannabis.
Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, the chief counsel of the Philadelphia-based Hirsch
& Caplan Public Interest Law Firm, is asking a U.S. District Court judge to
declare the marijuana laws unconstitutional. He says his lawsuit
represents the millions of people who need to use marijuana to survive the
symptoms and treatments of a variety of diseases, These people, the suit
says, ought to be "free to use it for their health without control or
interference" by the government
Cancer chemotherapy, AIDS wasting syndrome and nervous disorders are among
scores of afflictions that can be treated successfully only by smoking the
natural plant, according to the suit, which seeks class action on behalf of
165 plaintiffs _ and perhaps many more. The suit was assigned to U.S.
District Judge Marvin Katz A spokeswoman at the Department of Justice's
Civil Litigation Division said she could not comment on the suit Monday
The government's 1937 classification of marijuana as a dangerous narcotic
was the result of political and moral forces seeking to take away
constitutionally guaranteed liberties, the suit contends. Hirsch says
marijuana laws are akin to prohibition, "only without a constitutional
amendment."
"Cannabis was freely and legally available in the United States for a wide
range of medicinal uses until the federal politicians desecrated,
demonized, defamed, prohibited and criminalized what many cultures
considered to be an invaluable resources," Hirsch wrote. "The government's
arbitrary, hypocritical classification of cannabis as the most dangerous
drug in America continues to be the law and policy of the United States of
America, criminalizing the sick and powerless."
Kiyoshi Kuromiya, 55, a Philadelphia AIDS activist and one of the lead
plaintiffs, was diagnosed with AIDS 10 years ago. He said smoking marijuana
is the only way he can maintain an appetite "There's a very powerful
correlation between weight loss and the disease's progression, and
survival," he said. "I can sit down to a meal and be able to eat maybe one
bite, or not be able to look at the food. Marijuana is very effective
Within a matter of a few minutes (after smoking) I can eat a whole meal.
Through the use of marijuana _ it's taken some time _ but I've been able to
regain a lot of the weight," he said.
Aside from chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Hirsch said marijuana has
been shown to be effective in the treatment of dozens of physical and
psychological maladies. They include ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease,
arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, menstrual cramps, migraine
headaches and muscle spasticity related to central nervous system disorders.
Hirsch and Kuromiya point out that a pharmaceutical called Marinol, which
consists almost in its entirety of delta-9 tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) - the
main psychoactive and medicinal compound in marijuana has limited
effectiveness. Marinol is made under license from the government by Unimed
Pharmaceuticals and is available only by prescription. Because it comes in
a pill form, it is often no help to patients who are unable to take
medication orally, including many chemotherapy patients who develop mouth
sores, they said. They also say the cost of the drug is often prohibitive.
"When you're getting nauseated and you're about to vomit, you don't want to
swallow a pill, "said Kuromiya, who began the first Philadelphia-based
marijuana buyers' club in 1993 But it's the government's hypocrisy over the
use of THC, Hirsch said, that is also frustrating. He questions why the
government would allow synthetic drugs with THC and not allow it in its
natural form.
"To me the constitutional rights are obvious We're not a political firm.
We're a public interest law firm. This doesn't have a thing to do with
politics. It has to do with constitutional rights and public rights,"
Hirsch said.

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 03:48:35 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: New Zealand: Cannabis A Minor Risk
To Mentally Unstable: Doctor
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: NZ Herald (Auckland)
Contact: editor@herald.co.nz
CANNABIS A MINOR RISK TO MENTALLY UNSTABLE: DOCTOR
WELLINGTON - Cannabis use has little effect on mental illness, apart from a
small group of people suffering from schizophrenia or predisposed to the
disease, MPs were told yesterday.
Dr John Marks, who heads Capital Cost Health's drug and alcohol unit, told
the health select committee that cannabis use caused no significant harm.
The committee is holding an inquiry into the mental health effects of
cannabis and will report to Parliament and make recommendations to the
Government.
Dr Marks, a member of the Drug Policy Forum Trust, a doctors' group that
supports decriminalising the drug, said cannabis use could worsen the
condition of some schizophrenics - about one in 10,000 of the population.
Dr Nick Judson, the Ministry of Health's deputy director of mental health,
said cannabis caused fewer problems than tobacco and alcohol.
People who used cannabis occasionally had few health problems. Long-term and
heavier users could suffer subtle cognitive impairment.
Research had not shown that cannabis use damaged the brain structure, he
said. But in high doses it could cause acute psychosis.
Cannabis did not cause schizophrenia, but it might trigger the illness in
people at risk, said Dr Judson. No more than 3 per cent of the population
was at serious risk.
He said research showed cannabis could be therapeutic, particularly for pain
and stress relief.
The select committee announced its inquiry in April amid calls for the drug
to be decriminalised.
The inquiry will look at the effect of cannabis on people's development, the
role of the drug as a trigger for mental illness, the effects of cannabis on
Maori mental health, and the adequacy of services for those with
drug-related mental illnesses.
Ria Earp, the ministry's deputy director of Maori health, said more research
was needed on the effects of cannabis on Maori mental health. More
appropriate drug and alcohol services were needed for Maori.
The committee was told that about 10 per cent of cannabis users had a
dependency problem which was a similar level to other drugs but much less
than tobacco.
Dr Hadorn, who heads the doctors' trust, said the pharmacological effects of
cannabis were relatively benign. It had been used for centuries and was well
accepted for stress relief.
He said it was important to consider the research, rather than be distracted
by anecdotal evidence about the small number of people who had problems.
"The research evidence shows that cannabis is at most a small contributor to
the development and exacerbation of mental illness throughout the world."
People who dealt only with those who had problems with cannabis - such as
police and health workers - had a very narrow view, he said.
A trust member, Dr Peter Crampton, of the Wellington School of Medicine,
said the criminal status of cannabis made the mental health consequences worse.
Cannabis use had decreased or remained the same in countries or states where
its use had been decriminalised.
Dr Hadorn said anti-drug campaigns aimed at children increased drug use
because they stimulated curiosity. Children needed to be told at a young age
they should not smoke cannabis.
Dr Marks said studies of cannabis, dating back to last century, had all
exonerated the drug.
It was therapeutic for diseases such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, cancer
and HIV. - NZPA

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